Rockhaven

by Charles Clark Munn

  CHAPTER XXII

  TWO RASCALS

  There are genial, liberal, and companionable rascals and mean,contemptible, sneaking ones. The former attract by their apparenthonesty and cordial expressions, and are the more dangerous; the latterrepel by every look, act, and word. Of the first class J. Malcolm Westonwas a pertinent example, while Carlos B. Hill was of the latter.

  On "the street" and among his associates Weston was considered a jovial,good-natured man, liberal in small things, a pleasant associate, butlacking in morality and without principle. He paid for one of the bestpews in the church Winn's aunt attended, which was always occupied byhis wife and family, and by him occasionally; he contributed forcharitable and missionary work in an ostentatious way, always insistingthat it be known how much he gave; belonged to a club where gambling wasthe chief amusement and the members of which were mostly stock brokers,speculators, and fast men about town; he wore the latest and mostfashionable raiment, and drove a dashing turnout. Before the firm ofWeston & Hill had been established he had been the manager of what isknown as a bucket shop, and when that failed (as they always do, soon orlate) he began his career as a promoter. In this he was notover-successful, mainly from lack of funds to carry out his schemes; butwhen the conceited, shallow-minded Hill was induced to walk into hisparlor, Weston began to soar. Hill was a retired manufacturer andbigoted church member who had saved a small fortune by miserly living,stealing trade marks, copying designs, making cheap imitations of othermanufacturers' goods, and cutting prices. He thirsted for fame as agreat financier and longed to be a power in the stock market. Weston,whose business arguments usually contained equal parts of religion andpossible profit-making, in due proportion to the credulity and piety ofhis victims, and who could time a horse race, play a game of poker, orutter a fervid exhortation with equal facility, easily led Hill into theinvestment and brokerage business, and so the firm was established.

  This was J. Malcolm Weston.

  Of Hill, though his counterpart exists, but not in plenty, an explicitdescription shall be given. He was of medium size with a sharp hawklikenose, retreating forehead, deep-set fishy eyes, ears that stood out likesmall wings, and a handclasp as cold and lifeless as a pump-handle. Hissole object of conversation was himself; he had pinched pennies, deniedhimself all luxuries, and lived to be hated, till he grew rich. It wasone of his kind of whom the story is told that, having died rich (asusual), a stranger passing the church on the day of the funeral asked ofthe sexton at the door, "What complaint?" and received the reply, "Nonewhatever; everybody satisfied."

  Weston, liberal rascal that he was, was not long in learning to hate hismean-natured partner, and by the time the Rockhaven Granite Company wasduly organized and well on toward success, had conceived another andperhaps more excusable swindle (if any swindle is excusable), it beingnot only to rob the investors in Rockhaven, but Hill as well, and thenleave for a foreign clime. But the launching of Rockhaven necessitatedoutlay. Hill really held the purse-strings, so Weston, the plausible,shrewd schemer, bided his time. But the road to success becamedifficult. Each successive outlay was whined about and opposed by Hill,who, shallow in his conceit, lacked the courage of his rascality. WhenWinn was sent to Rockhaven, and money to pay men must follow, and eachsuccessive item and advertisement in the _Market News_ (bothhigh-priced) only made him wince the more, it required all of Weston'soptimistic arguments to keep him from backing out. But when returns fromthe sale of this absolutely worthless stock came in, Hill smiled, andwhen some thirty thousand shares had been sold and, by reason ofSimmons' manipulation, it was quoted on 'change at six dollars pershare, his eyes glittered like those of a hungry shark. No thought ofthe honest and confiding men and women who had contributed to swell thetotal, and would share in the inevitable loss, came to him. No qualms ofconscience, no sense of guilt, no fear of retribution! only the miser'slust of gain and the swelling of his abnormal self-esteem. And sogratified was he in this partial success, and so eager to pocket itsresults, that, had Weston now proposed dividing receipts and absconding,he would have consented with alacrity.

  Of those who were to be the dupes of this precious pair a word will nowbe said. They comprised a varied list, from poorly paid clerks who hadcaught the gambling fever to Winn's aunt who, since she believed inWeston, and being baited on by the deceptive dividend, had investedalmost her entire fortune. There was one cashier in a bank who had"utilized" about three of the many thousands he had access to, aninnocent and underpaid stenographer in Weston & Hill's office whopersuaded her widowed mother to draw her all from the savings bank andbuy Rockhaven, and scores of small investors, trustees for estates; andeven sane business men, lured by the early and unexpected dividend andanxious to share in the rapid advance, bought, what they at heart fearedwas worthless. And so the bubble grew apace, and Weston and hishenchman, Simmons, in the privacy of their offices, smiled andcongratulated one another, and plotted and planned. They discussed theitems to be paid for in the _Market News_, how long it would benecessary to continue the farce of quarrying carried on by Winn, and howmuch stock was really being tossed back and forth among the gamblers on'change, and how much held by honest investors. Of the quarried stoneshipped by Winn, enough had been received to build the palatialresidence Simmons had under way and some toward another and smallercontract, taken at a price below market rates. To these consultationsHill was seldom invited, for the best of reasons,--he was in the end tobe made the dupe of all. Of this latter and final iniquity not evenSimmons was informed.